1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to flexible wiring plates and electronic devices for recording and/or playing back information using the flexible wiring plates, and more particularly, to a flexible wiring plate and an electronic device for recording and/or playing back information using the flexible wiring plate, which is provided so as to curve and connect a fixed side and a movable side, so that the curved part moves as corresponding to movement of the moveable side.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recording medium, for example a disk type recording medium (hereinafter “disk”) such as a CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM or the like, is provided in a disk device. It is demanded by users that notebook type personal computers in which the disk device is incorporated be made miniaturized and thinner. As a result, making the disk device itself thinner has been attempted. Thereby, space formed between a tray on which the disk is placed and a chassis that slideably supports the tray becomes narrower.
A turntable and an optical pick up are provided in the tray. The turntable rotationally drives the disk. The optical pick up irradiates a laser beam on a surface of the disk held by the turntable so that information recorded in the disk is read out. A substrate is provided inside of the chassis of the disk device. The tray as a movable side and the substrate provided inside of the chassis as a fixed side are connected by a flexible wiring plate.
Furthermore, the flexible wiring plate is formed so as to have a rectangular shape but not having one side of a plane configuration. A first end part of the flexible wiring plate is connected to a connector equipped at the substrate that is provided inside of the chassis. A second end part of the flexible wiring plate is curved so as to extend in an opposite direction to the extending direction of the first end part, so that the second end part of the flexible wiring plate is connected to the connector provided at the tray. Because of this, the curved part of the flexible wiring plate moves as corresponding to the movement of the tray, and thereby it is assured to move with the tray.
FIG. 1-(A) and 1-(B) show a disk device 102 in the related art. As shown in FIG. 1-(A), in a tray 106, which is included in the disk device 102, a turntable 134 on which the disk is placed and which rotates the disk, a pickup portion (not shown in FIG. 1-(A) and FIG. 1-(B)) that optically detects information recorded on the disk and so forth are provided.
A flexible wiring plate 110 is provided between the tray 106 and a chassis 104. The flexible wiring plate 110 is curved in accordance with a position relationship between the tray 106 and the chassis 104. Further, the flexible wiring plate 110 electrically connects a substrate 138 provided in the tray 106 with a substrate 140 provided in the chassis 104. When the tray 106 moves, a curved portion 110a follows the sliding movement of the tray 106 and moves in the chassis 104.
As shown in FIG. 1-(B), as a result of the disk device 102 becoming thinner, the inner space of the chassis 104 becomes narrow, and, thereby the flexible wiring plate cannot bend gradually. Accordingly, when the tray 106 is received by the chassis 104, the curved portion 110a of the flexible wiring plate 110 may come into contact with a ceiling plate 104a of the chassis 104. In this case, due to the frictional resistance occurring as a result of the contact of the curved portion 110a with the ceiling plate 104a of the chassis 104, the curved portion 110a does not slide so that the flexible wiring plate 110 is stopped from entering the chassis 104 and a portion 110b of the flexible wiring plate 110, which portion 110b cannot enter the chassis 104, projects from the gap between the tray 106 and the chassis 104.
Further, when the tray 106 continues to move into the chassis 104, the projecting portion 110b of the flexible wiring plate 110 is sandwiched between a rear end portion 106a of the tray 106 and a front end portion 104b of the chassis 104.